Oblivion138
Second Unit
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2012
- Messages
- 413
- Real Name
- James O'Blivion
It is not the same master at all. The German release has had further restoration to both the audio and video.tele1962 said:
Several missing frames have been reinstated, eliminating jump-cuts that exist on both the Masters of Cinema and Criterion Collection editions (which are sourced from the same master, though CC bumped up the contrast a bit). The image has been stabilized, eliminating jitter and wobble seen on both the MOC and CC editions. The film has also been re-graded, and no longer features the blown-out highlights that were sometimes discernible on the MOC and CC editions. Greyscale is richer and fuller than on any previous edition.
As for the audio, the noise floor has been significantly reduced without using the filters that caused high- and low-end clipping on the MOC and CC editions, and the silent sections of the film are now truly 100% silent, as intended by Lang. The original 2001 preservation track, without the noise reduction (which was the original source for the MOC and CC audio, as well, prior to filtering), is also included, but for my money, the 2011 restoration track is the real winner, in terms of audio.
The German edition is, bar none, the definitive presentation of M on Blu-ray. The film has never looked nor sounded better. The difference between the previous Blu-ray releases and the Universum Blu-ray is a major one, in my estimation. The digibook packaging is also quite gorgeous, and the contents of the book are almost entirely comprised of images, which means one needn't be fluent in German in order to fully enjoy it. All in all, there is no comparison. The MOC and CC editions are still nice to own for the exclusive extras they include...but when it comes to the presentation of the film itself, the Universum edition is indispensible.
